Keeping A Fish
by xXseleniumXx
Summary: When a strange creature flops up on Plastic Beach, the lives of 2D and Murdoc are changed forever.  This story contains language, violence, drinking, drugs, and heterosexual sex.  Gorillaz don't appear until Chapter 2 so be patient!
1. El Manana

**THERE ARE NO GORILLAZ IN THIS CHAPTER. BE PATIENT. Yes, it is still a Gorillaz fanfic but you have to trust me. They show up in the next chapter. This just kinda sets up the situation of the new character I introduce, who is, in fact, a mermaid. Right now the setting is somewhere in the ocean near Plastic Beach. This is a pretty PG-rated chapter so don't get too excited.**

With the loose stone in her cell, she crossed off another box on the wall as darkness settled over the sea. She glanced at the last box uncrossed. It sported a roughly-carved skull.

Tomorrow she would die.

She inhaled deeply and slowly let the water trickle through her gills on her neck beneath her jawbone. Now, crossing off her last day of life on the rock wall of her prison cell, she was healthy, strong, and could probably rip through the rusted steel bars if she wanted. But it would do no good. She couldn't take all those guards alone. As they swam past her with their coral-tipped spears and seaweed sashes, they didn't even spare her a passing glance. Occasionally she would hear bits of excitedly-whispered conversations about the execution meant to take place the next day. It was strange, being invisible. Usually she was the one everyone either attacked or fled from. But she guessed without her army, weapons and freedom, they considered her no real threat to them. By the murmurs she learned she was to be executed at first light. This cut her deeper.

You must understand that she was not afraid to die. She was actually surprised she had lasted so long. But the public display of her failure scared her more than Hell itself ever could.

The natural light of the underwater sun faded, and she pulled her tail to her chest, her forehead resting at the bend.

Good night, life. Goodbye, glory

She was only woken by large, rough hands seizing her by the arms and dragging her out of her cell. The sonar of at least a thousand Merfolk echoed through the corridor. She was forced through an archway and was met by even louder cheers and many more than just a thousand spectators. Had the circumstances been different, she would have been smirking at her fame. Drums pounded in the distance (probably sharkskin) and in the center of all the madness was a gigantic catapult, large enough to throw a full-grown Merman many fathoms.

She was pressed through the crowd toward the hideous thing, with its whalebone structure and stone cup looming over the crowd. The guards bound her and gagged her with seaweed ropes so that she couldn't escape and shoved her into the cup. From here she could see the king. He sat there, in a throne carved from coral, his golden trident polished especially for the occasion, his long beard trimmed, his cerulean eyes twinkling with savage pleasure. She felt a rush of hatred erupting from inside her. _He shouldn't still be alive_, she thought to herself. _I should be sitting right where he is, leading_ his_ execution._ The drums quieted and the king spoke a few words about her traitorous deeds and Hell-bound soul. The beat was now only a distant whisper as he reminded them all of the consequences of treason. She rolled her eyes. He pointed to her, or rather, jabbed his trident in her general direction, several times.

But she hadn't given up yet.

The guards had been hasty in tying her up, and she found a weak spot in their work. She began to wriggle her fingers free, then her hands, and all the way past her wrists, when the kingsaw this and pumped his trident upward toward the surface.

This was the signal for her death.

Before she had even registered what had happened, she felt herself breaking the surface of the ocean and breathing in air.


	2. Superfast Jellyfish

**Alright, HERE are the Gorillaz. This is pretty PG too. If you're wondering why all the chapters are song titles, it's just whatever Gorillaz song reminds me of the situation in the chapter. After all, this story was spawned when I listened to the Plastic Beach album for the first time.**

"_Must_ we do this at dawn?"

"Shut your mouth, twerp, and sing those lyrics."

"But I just barely woke up. I'm not even dressed yet."

Those mismatched eyes, the same ones he had grown to hate over the period of a decade, narrowed defensively. "Genious has no schedule."

If 2D had eyes, he would've rolled them. "More like stupidi'y," he muttered.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Murdoc roared into 2D's headphones. Oops. He had muttered into the microphone.

"Nuffing," he answered cautiously. The last thing he wanted was a beating so early in the morning.

"That's what I thought. Now when I start the music, you sing those lyrics." 2D looked at the lyrics sheet. _Just in time for breakfast_? What kind of lyrics were these? "And don't muck about. Remember, Russel isn't here to save you this time around. You're going to have to do what I say if you don't want to get hurt."

2D scowled through the glass of the recording booth. "Well, maybe if you stopped trea'in' me like-"

Music started playing though his headphones. He sang as well as he could force himself to, trying not to notice those repulsive, evil, mismatched eyes staring him down through a green face. He was a hideous man, Murdoc. Broken nose, greasy black hair, one eye black and another red. He hadn't aged well in the few years they had spent apart. _And women are actually attracted to him?_ But he cleared the thought from his mind and sang, "Superfast, superfast, I come in last, but just in time..."

He trailed off as something green and brown streaked by outside the studio window. In a split second, it had come and gone, but the initial shock and the lingering curiosity lasted much longer.

2D heard, or rather, felt, a thud.

"You hear that, Murdoc?" The music stopped.

"I don't hear you singing if that's what you mean."

"No, somefing outside. I fink it landed on the island."

Murdoc rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Just ignore it."

"No," 2D asserted, peeling the headphones from his ears. He dropped them unceremoniously on the floor and opened the door. Murdoc tried to block it but got there too late. 2D rushed to the window and searched the artificial ground below for the green and brown object. "Look," he exclaimed, pointing to a place near the dock.

Murdoc followed 2D's finger to the window. "Oh, yeah," he said. "Looks like some sort of fish. Just leave it there and it'll die soon enough. I'll go and shovel it back in the ocean later when it stops flopping about like that." It was true-It was convulsing ferociously.

"No! We need to do somefing!" Somehow he found the courage to face Murdoc and meet him straight in those unbelievably demonic mismatched eyes. "I-I won't record anyfing else until-until we save it."

Murdoc advanced on him. Despite being shorter than 2D, he was immeasurably more intimidating. 2D had to will himself not to shrink away. "Get. Back. In. There."

2D was trapped. On one hand, that fish's life was running out before his eye sockets. On the other, he couldn't do anything without Murdoc's help.

So he used the only leverage he had.

"If-if you save that fing's life, I'll do anything you say." 2D studied Murdoc. Not even the slightest softening of expression. "Promise."

Murdoc backed off at this point. 2D continued: "I'll record wha'ever you want me to, and I won't comp'ain or nuffing..."

He waited. He glanced outside at the fish, whose convulsions had calmed to half-hearted, suffocated flailing. He turned back to his only hope: the short, hideous green man with the horrible mismatched eyes. "Please?"

"Fine," Murdoc spat. "Take the horror to down to the lab. I'll be down there by the time you've got it."

2D broke into a sprint to the lift the minute the words had left his mouth. Frantically he pressed the ground floor button until it opened, pinging in complaint several times. It couldn't reach the lobby fast enough. Not even acknowledging Tatu, the midget doorman, he burst through the front door and hurried down the steps to the creature. But by the time he had gotten there, it had stopped moving.

Correction: _she_ had stopped moving.

The creature had a female torso and a long, lime green tail. He approached her timidly. Her eyes were closed and a dark, tangled mass of curly hair partially obscured her tropically dark face. She was also ensnared in a large quantity of seaweed. All of her was shimmering with seawater and peppered with sand.

2D tugged at the seaweed but couldn't get any of it off. He stood there puzzling for a minute about what to do next. Was she even alive? How would you be able to tell? It then occurred to him to check her heartbeat. He leaned over and pressed a hand to her chest, careful to keep it between her breasts. He felt a struggling, quivering beat. Once again panicked, he scooped up the mermaid in his lightly muscular arms and carried it inside as quickly as he could without tripping over anything. He was clumsy and, after all, Plastic Beach was made up entirely out of trash.

Back in the lift, he pressed the button to the bottom floor: the Lab. The place Murdoc had made the cyborg. It was below sea level and might take a long-maybe _too_ long-time to get down there.

2D studied the creature in his arms. He struggled not to drop it as it was so slippery and heavy. Carefully, he took one of his arms from under her and brushed the wet hair off the mermaid's face. 2D was stunned. She was beautiful. Somehow it made the load he carried lighter.

Settling against the wall of the lift, he continued to stare into her face and began absent-mindedly singing: "Oh joys are us, the sun has gone again to hold you..." Funny time to be thinking up song lyrics, he thought. But he kind of liked them. Suddenly he thought of maybe writing a lullaby for the mermaid.

Given that she survived.

And she _would_ survive, right? Murdoc knew what he was doing, right? He'd built that Cyborg using Noodle's DNA, right? What-ifs buzzed in 2D's head as the lift doors opened, revealing a dim room full of Metal tables, once-white countertops, many scary-looking mechanical tools, jars full of unidentifiable substances, a giant surgery light, and Murdoc in a lab coat. Ha. Murdoc in a lab coat. 2D felt the small, fleeting urge to laugh, but it quickly faded when he realized that the mermaid's heartbeat was slowing.

Murdoc pointed to the closest metal table. "Put it here." 2D obeyed, careful not to bang her body against anything or break something Murdoc valued. He took one last look at the mermaid before Murdoc shooed him out saying, "Piss off."

2D reentered the lift, not sure whether to be relieved or concerned. There was nothing more he could do. It was literally out of his hands.


	3. Empire Ants

**Warning: This is where it starts to get a little PG-13. There is language, sexual references, and a lot of boob-grabbing. Thanks, Murdoc. You're such a classy dude. Anyway, this is mostly internal monologue from Murdoc and not a lot happens, but you do learn a lot of things that become important in later chapters.**

How was he going to do this?

The fish was now hooked up to an oxygen mask he had connected to an underwater leak in the wall (originally a torture technique designed for 2D) and strapped down with a couple of leather belts to keep her from moving if she woke up. The lack of water had put her in a coma, but her heart was beating and her gills were functioning. For now, at least, she was alive.

Murdoc was no stranger to the beauty of a young woman, and he couldn't help but notice how attractive this particular creature was. Cinnamon skin, voluminous hair, flawless complexion, a good-sized rack...

He had long untangled the mermaid from the confining seaweed (which looked awfully intentional) and been pleasantly surprised to find two perfectly symmetrical breasts, probably C-cups, smiling back at him. Maybe this had been a good idea after all...

Now, he stared at them, the first of their kind he had seen in three years. And he was alone with them.

He reached out and gently placed a hand on each. They were definitely real. But had he doubted it? Had he really suspected mermaids of implants? Force of habit, he supposed. Stroking them with his fingers, he found them to be incredibly soft. _Abnormally_ soft. As if a baby was born with large boobs. Maybe it was all that time in that saltwater. All that seasalt must scrub off all the dead skin. Hmm, maybe he should try that sometime. His calloused bass-fingers probably felt like sandpaper against her flesh. Not that it mattered now. She was out cold; she couldn't feel them.

Placing a palm on each nipple, he squeezed them and felt himself become excited. But he looked down dismally at her lower half-there was the problem with mermaids. _Not_ very fuckable. She didn't have the anatomy for that.

The anatomy...

Suddenly he felt another stroke of genious (among other things). He could _make_ her the anatomy. And maybe some way to breathe on land. Hell, why not a voice while we're at it? It might actually be nice to talk to someone other than 2D or the cyborg for once, even if it _was_ a woman. The cyborg wasn't much of a conversationalist, and ANYONE was better than 2D.

Speaking of him, he'd probably want a piece of the action, too. After all, it was 2D's idea to save the fish in the first place. And Murdoc had to start giving him more privileges, because if he became too unhappy, he'd most likely try to escape. And he would only get hurt in the process, and Gorillaz would no longer have its singer. That would be problematic. You can replace each of a band's original members, but there can only be one singer. Regardless of Murdoc's opinion of him, he needed 2D; not only to sing for his band, but as a punching bag and someone to make him look good in interviews. Anyway you slice it, 2D was necessary.

But the girl...

He came to his senses and let go of the poor fish's rack (which would probably bruise now). This...thing that was lying here, naked and helpless, had just complicated things quite a bit. Of course, he could always just throw her back into the ocean and things would go back to semi-normal. But he knew the twerp wouldn't have it. And he _had_ made him a promise. And Faceache wasn't one to go back on his word.

So, as it stood: he wanted the fish. 2D also wanted the fish. But he needed 2D. Seemed like the only option would be to just give her to him.

Paula Cracker...

A smile creeped across his lips at the memory. How hard could it be, really, to seduce an unknowing wild animal from the bed of someone so...2D? He was a virtual retard. And he'd never succeeded in keeping a girl for long, had he? Sure, he'd had boatloads in his bed, but how long had he actually _kept_ one? A lot of men were married by his age. Then again, Murdoc hadn't exactly had a long-term relationship, either. But that was his choice; it wasn't like he went out seeking companionship.

Murdoc glanced around the room. How was he going to do this?

He caught sight of a bottle on a far shelf labeled "NOODLE DNA". He crossed the room to it, took it in his hand and examined it. There were still some left over hair strands and flakes of skin and blood

That was it.

But wait. The legs had to match her skin tone and body type; otherwise she wouldn't be anything to look at.

He supposed he could attempt to cut and paste from each-but would it work? Could he actually grow legs for this creature in a short amount of time? And what about speaking? And breathing?

By the time the sun set, Murdoc had already gotten to work.


	4. On Melancholy Hill

**The mermaid meets 2D for the first time. Brief sort-of partial nudity. You'll know what I mean when you get there. Also she gets a name. I know there's already a mermaid by this name, but mine is much different. I swear this is my own character and if it helps, she's supposed to look kinda Rihanna-colored, if that makes any sense.**

She woke up to a blinding white light and, as her eyes focused, a pair of holes where she was sure eyes should have been.

"Are you wiff me, love?" the eyeless human said. "Murdoc, what's that glowin' light in 'er neck?

"Oh, that," another, rougher voice answered behind her. "It's call a 'VoiceBox'. Bought it online. Allows her to speak and breathe above water. Or it should do those things. I had a Hell of a time installing the bloody device. Nearly punched in the code for Canadian French."

"What you mean?"

"Oh, well, you had to enter the code for the language you wanted it to speak. Bit pointless really. It should allow you to teach it on your own. More fun that way." The rough voice paused. "So, 2D, what do you think of her?"

The eyeless human grinned, revealing a large gap where two front teeth should have been. "I fink she's perfeck. Does she have a name?"

"Dunno. This is the first time I've seen her awake. If not, I've thought of one. Aquamarine. Aqua for short. You know, after the color of her eyes."

"I fot they were more seafoam green, 'ones'ly-"

"Nobody asked you, twerp." The rough voice then shifted back to its casual tone. "So, er, do you want her? I mean, as a sort of...entertainment? Because I have the feeling she'll make a wonderful pet..."

The rough voice turned into a sort of wheezy, grumbling sound. Was that _laughter_? It was a hideous noice. She made to cover her ears, but she discovered she was strapped down to the metal surface she was lying on.

"I don' fink she likes it when you laugh," said the eyeless, toothless human, whose own voice had a sort of goofy music to it. She stopped struggling when he spoke; she enjoyed hearing it. But she couldn't respond. She didn't have human vocal chords. "Wha's your name, love?"

She didn't have anything to lose, so she opened her mouth the click out her name, but instead a loud, scraping, squealing noise passed through her throat and vibrated painfully. She quickly shut her mouth.

"Bloody Hell!" cried the rough voice. "Sounds like Dial-up. Blimey, I never thought I'd hear that noise again."

"Wha's wrong wiff 'er voice?

"My guess is her name doesn't translate. Try asking her something else."

The eyeless human moved closer, his face towering above hers, and asked, "Where are you from?"

This time she was scared to respond. It had hurt her so much to talk before. Maybe this was a torture technique. Maybe she had been sent here because the king knew these humans would harm her. Was this the _real_ punishment? A slow, torturous, painful death by the hands of these...animals? But the eyeless one seemed so friendly...maybe it wasn;t as bad as it seemed. He truly didn't look as if he meant any harm.

"S'all right. We won' hur' you."

She opened her mouth and tried to speak again. "I come from-" She stopped. In place of her usual sonar was a low female human's voice. Whatever these humans had done to her had actually _worked_. And she was still alive.

"Go on." The human moved closer

Hesitantly, she spoke again. "I was...born in the...Gulf of Mexico. That is what you call it?"

The human's face fell. Had she said something that displeased him?

"Soun's American," he said to the rough voice, his eye sockets turned away from her.

Another male came into view. He looked a lot different from the first one. He had eyes, but they were different colors. His skin was green and his nose was layered. He clearly was _not_ human. "Damn. I must have punched in the code for _American_ English. It was awfully small print, you know. I'm not sure, but I think I can still change-"

"Leave it," said the human. "I kinda like it the way it is."

The nonhuman stared down at her for a moment. "I suppose I'd better unstrap you." He reached with rough green hands and undid the buckles of the straps securing her. She sat up and and looked down at her tai-

Her heart stuttered. In place of her glorious tail was a a scrawny, spindly, pair of flesh-colored legs. They hadn't just given her the gifts of communication and life. They'd made her human.

And now she was hideous.

Looking down at her body, she noticed that she was wearing a few scraps of white material held together on her body by strings. There was one piece over her breasts and another between her legs. The left breast-scrap sported a red handprint. It did not look like a design.

She tugged at the scrap between her legs. It was comfortable and elastic. She began to peek inside it when the nonhuman took her hand away. "No, no," he told her. "Keep that in there for later." The grumbling laugh came from his throat. She shuddered. "Well, Welcome to Plastic Beach! This is your new home. I'm Murdoc Niccals. This silly sod over there is 2D. He'll be your main, er, caregiver, I guess you could say. But if you need anything that faceache can't provide, anything at all, I'm your man."

"I fink I've got it covered, fanks." 2D's voice was a little hostile now. It would seem that the two were not friends. If that was so, why did they live together?

Murdoc's eyes narrowed at 2D, then lightened as they turned to her. "I don't know if you heard me say this, but we're calling you Aquamarine from now on. Because every pet has a name y'know-"

Something snapped inside her at the word _pet_. "I'm a WHAT?"

Silence. This _was_ her punishment, wasn't it? To be treated as some captured animal? She knew how aquarium fish were treated: pampered briefly and then ignored, underfed, in unkempt tanks gathering dust in dark, lonely corners. Was that her fate?

Murdoc cleared his throat. "What I meant, love, was that everything needs a name. We can't just call you 'fish' or 'mermaid' all day. Anyway, I'll let you two get acquanted. I, er, have other things I need to take care of." He then backed away and disappeared into the capsule on the wall. It pinged and there was a faint clattering in the distance.

2D sat down on the metal surface beside her. "Hullo, Aquamarine. Tha's a really pre'y name acshully..."


	5. Last Living Souls

**I'm not too fond of this chapter as I feel it has such a sloppy end. But you learn what went on in the 1st chapter as well as the rest of Aquamarine's story. Pretty PG. I might as well just tell you what chapters are more racy because in the beginning it's all pretty clean. But trust me, later on it's different. Just dialogue between Aquamarine and 2D.**

Aquamarine-was that her new name?-stared at 2D. It was almost eery that he had no eyeballs yet could still see. Maybe it was some kind of spell. Maybe Murdoc had enchanted his eye sockets with vision. At least she couldn't see straight through to his brain. She willed herself not to stare at his holes and let her eyes venture elsewhere. His hair was the kind of blue she had only seen on exotic fish, his skin was pasty white, and he seemed awkwardly tall. Even sitting down he towered over her. But there was something innocent in his face-maybe his thick, straight eyebrows or his smooth face. Compared to Murdoc, he was almost attractive, even for a human.

And somehow, she could easily see herself in his care.

"I saved your life, y'know," 2D almost whispered, as if trying not to startle her.

"So, you are the one responsible for...this?" She glanced at her legs? "For destroying my natural body?"

2D's brow furrowed. "No, that was all Murdoc. See, I was the one who convinced him t'keep you alive 'stead of just le'in' you die out there on the beach. And I carried you down here all the way from up there." He pointed to the ceiling.

Aquamarine's expression softened. His intentions were good enough. So far. "Thank you. But I really do not know if I should stay here. I have unfinished business in the ocean."

"Oh, please don' go yet, I jus' met you." His sockets locked on her desperately now. It was amazing how much emotion there was in those vacant holes.

"It is really important."

"Wha' is?"

"You would not understand."

"Well, how you gonna swim in the ocean, anyway, wivvout your tail?"

_Maybe he's right_, she thought. _What can I do with legs? I might as well make the best of this._ "I am not the kind of creature you think I am. I have the potential to do great damage."

"Wha's that mean?"

"Again, you would not understand."

"Well, you're gonna be stuck 'ere wiff me for awhile, I figure, so you migh' as well tell me. Don' worry. No ma'er wha' it is it won' change nuffing."

Aquamarine's eyebrows rose and her eyes widened. Why was this human so forgiving? Was there _anything_ she could say to him to scare him off? Or would he be around no matter what? Maybe he was fearless. Or maybe just dumb. Maybe both.

So she took a deep, dry breath, exaled through her gills, and spoke: "I was the leader of a rebellion."

2D stared blankly. Clearly he had neither absorbed nor understood a word she had just said. "Okay," was all he said.

So she continued: "When I was young, I had dreams of becoming a hunter. I had the skills and the necessary traits and was better than most my age. But then the Red Papers came."

"Wha's the 'red papers?'"

"Originally they were human propaganda for a system of government known as Socialism. Have you ever heard of it?"

"Er...I fink so...in school a long time ago."

"The king (you humans know him as King Neptune) adapted this form of government, which meant nobody could become what they wanted. You were told at an early age how you were to spend the rest of your life. I was sent to work as a maid in the king's household. It was the most humiliating day of my life.

"Many of us working in the king's household had been torn from professions we had dreamt about since we hatched. We began meeting at night to talk about the things we would've normally been locked away for. Eventually, one man came up with the idea to create a resistence. He said that we could destroy the king if we worked together. I was the first to join. A few of the others did too, but a few declined, promising to keep quiet. They didn't. The next morning we had to flee for our lives from the king's armed men who attempted to kill us in our sleep. Some of those armed men were the first of dozens, hundreds, maybe even a thousand mermen I've killed in my lifetime."

"Wow. So, you've killed people?" 2D said it so casually. Was he an idiot? Or was he like the guards in the royal prison, not considering her a threat without her resources? She felt herself become angry at him.

"Yes." Her tone had turned slightly acidic. "As I was saying, we hid far away in caves and gained supporters on the way. The man who had started the resistence became our leader. Occasionally we would come across a small army of armed king's men, but we easily defeated them with guerilla warfare-"

"That's our band!" 2D suddenly shouted.

Aquamarine's patience was wearing thin. She didn't even want to ask what a "band" was. She ignored him and continued. "Along the way somewhere, our leader was killed, but as he was dying he made me his successor. But I didn't want to lead the rebellion to better the lives of our people. I wanted revenge. The king's hands were red from my closest ally's blood. It was also then I vowed never again to become so attached to another.

"It was then that the rebellion began to fall apart. I was cruel, merciless, unfeeling and uncaring. Membership began declining dramatically and the remainder protested against my decisions. But I didn't care. I was bent on avenging our former leader. So I hatched a plan to attack the palace itself. I hand-picked two hundred soldiers for this task-the bravest, strongest and most loyal-and I returned to the palace for the last time."

"Wha' 'appened af'er tha'? D'you win?"

So 2D was listening after all. He'd even had a basic understanding of what she was saying. Maybe he wasn't as much of a hinderance as she had originally thought. She almost felt as if she-no. It was too dangerous to feel that way again. Too uncertain. She reminded herself of the man who had changed her life, and ruined it with his death. Never again.

She turned away from him and examined the floor. It was hard to talk about the next part: her failure. But this creature had saved her life, and she owed him an explanation. "Well?" 2D nearly whispered, leaning in closer. "S'okay. You can tell me."

"We were betrayed. Just outside the palace walls we were met by the king's army. Nearly every one of my soldiers died in that battle. The few survivors fled. I was the only one left fighting, the only one with enough luck and courage to fight to the end. They captured me, imprisoned me, and sentenced me to die."

"How'd you get up 'ere, then?"

A small, sarcastic laugh escaped Aquamarine's throat. "That is how I was executed. They catapulted me onto land. It is considered the most humiliating way to die. it was as much an exile as it was an execution." Aquamarine looked back up at 2D, searching for his reaction.

2D just smiled at her. He looked almost angelic when he smiled. "An' then I saved you."

Aquamarine nodded. "I guess I got lucky this time."

There was a silence, but it wasn't an awkward one. It was more thoughtful. Aquamarine felt as if something had changed in her, or was in the process of changing. She felt almost relieved to eject her life story to a complete stranger. But then, he had done so much for her already.

She suddenly remembered something. "Are you the one who made that beautiful noise with your voice?"  
>2D's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Dunno whachoo mean."<p>

"It was like talking, and you spoke words, but it was...better. More beautiful. I cannot describe it."

"Y'mean like me singing?"

"Maybe. What does singins sound like?"

2D cleared his throat. "_Up on Melancholy Hill_," came the beautiful noise again. "_There's a plastic tree, are you here with me_...Like that?"

Aquamarine could not completely surpress a small smile. "Yes. Exactly like that. Do it again."

"_Just looking out for the day when you're close to me, when you're close to me_..." She hadn't even realized it, but he had leaned so close she could taste his breath. Perhaps she had gotten too lost in those endless black holes..."You're beau'iful," he whispered.

"So is your voice."

He smiled humbly. "Dunno 'bout that. I'm not the bes' singer, but y'know, that's me job 'n all." He gently placed a hand on her cheek. He was leaning in even closer, but before she could protest, his lips pressed against hers. _What is he doing?_ She wondered. Yet she didn't push him away or break contact. She almost enjoyed it. _Almost_. She couldn't afford to get too sentimental.

He finally pulled away. "What was that?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"S'called a kiss. S'whachoo do when you like someone a lot."

"A kiss," she repeated.

"Yeah." He blinked a few times, then let his hand drop. "Did you like it?"

Aquamarine didn't want to offend him. She had partially enjoyed it, but a greater part of her didn't want to admit it. But she couldn't _not _respond. He would think he had done something wrong.

She hesitated briefly, then said, "yes," but left her face expressionless. 2D smiled widely this time. She felt herself break a little seeing this. But she held herself outwardly together.

Then 2D's face became more serious. "Lis'n, er, Murdoc says you'll have to sleep wiff me since we don' have any extra beds. I hope you don' mind."

"Why would I mind?"

2D looked away. "Er, well, see...some girls migh' fink the wrong fing, s'all."

"Like what?"

"Er." His cheeks started to gain a pikish color. "I'll exp'ain la'er."

Another silence, and this one was awkward. She wasn't sure why, but she had the slightest hint that she should feel violated by whatever he was talking about. Was this what Murdoc had meant by _keep that in there for later_? What was going _on_?

Yet somehow she knew it would be even more awkward to prod him for an explanation. So they sat there in silence, watching the floor as if it was entertaining them, not touching and barely daring to breathe. Aquamarine didn't like it. She missed his voice and his smile. She felt an uncharacteristic longing in her chest that scared her.

"You and Murdoc," she began slowly. 2D looked up at her. "You are not allies?"

"No."

"Then why do you share a dwelling with him?"

"Whachoo mean?"

"Why do you live together?"

"S'a long story, love."

"That is alright. I think I have the time."

He smiled weakly. "Awright. But can we go into anovver room? I hate this p'ace."


	6. White Flag

**This gets a little dirtier. There is definitely a sexual situation in this one. Also, I tried to get more into the mind of a male and I hope it was effective. I'm a girl, so I hope I got it right. Review and let me know.**

**Also what always bothered me about the Plastic Beach gang is that they never really replaced Russel. So I fixed that.**

The first night 2D spent with Aquamarine was a sexless one. In another circumstance it might've been different, but there was something special about Aquamarine that made him want to wait. When he did, he wanted it to_ mean something_. And he wanted to be sure that she felt the same way he did.

Instead, they went up a floor to his room (which was still below sea level) and talked. 2D showed her clips from one of his favorite movies on a portable DVD player and some Gorillaz music on his iPod. He smiled when she recognized his voice. He told her about his childhood and the car crashes he was in with Murdoc that cost him his eyes, about Russel and Noodle (he even showed her pictures), what a keyboard was and how Murdoc kidnapped him and brought him to Plastic Beach. Aquamarine told him about life in the ocean and the many animals she had befriended and tried, in vain, to talk 2D out of his fear of whales. Occasionally 2D would randomly kiss her, and she soon learned how to reciprocate. She was terrible, but then, she didn't really know what a kiss was. Besides, he liked her enough not to care. As long as it made her happy, it was good enough for him.

When they got tired, they discovered that his narrow cot would not allow them to sleep side-by-side, so Aquamarine had to lie on her stomach on top of him. This was almost too much for 2D to take. It did cross his mind to rip off her bikini and fuck her on the spot, but when she looked at him with those green eyes he couldn't find it in himself to be so selfish. Every woman he'd ever had was in possession of a soul, and Aquamarine was one of the few who had one just as attractive as her body. He didn't care that she had killed a thousand men. She seemed harmless now.

Aquamarine fell asleep before he did, kept warm in his arms. He spent at least an hour wide awake, wanting her, fighting it, and feeling scared out of his mind. She was not a pet, like Murdoc had said. She was just as human as he was.

And this human was _his_ responsibity.

Eventually he fell asleep, lulled by her heartbeat against his.

* * *

><p>2D woke up and was surprised to find Aquamarine still there, sound asleep. He guessed he'd half-expected her to be gone in the morning. Not that she would have anywhere to go. She still couldn't walk. He'd had to carry her up here. It was kind of strange, though, not feeling her rise and fall like a normal person. At first he thought she was dead, but then remembered she didn't breathe the way he did.<p>

The worst part about waking up with her on top of him was the terrible ache.

Not a painful ache, but a longing, a desire so strong he wasn't sure he'd be able to contain himself. She was so soft and beautiful and she was wearing next to nothing. Her skin against his bare chest was unbearable. He was hard and he could feel it, and he was sure that when she woke up she would feel it, too. He tried and failed to worry about other things, like how they would be able to actually get _out_ of bed in this situation. But his mind kept wandering back to the anatomy underneath the little clothes she had on and what he wanted to do to it.

His thoughts were interrupted when she stirred. At first she only moved her head, but then she stretched her legs out a little (which only made things worse for 2D) and lifted herself on her hands over him. She stared at him awhile.

"G'mornin', love," he cooed. He propped himself up on an elbow and kissed her.

"Is that what humans say to each other when they wake up?"

"Yeah." He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer. _Maybe she'll know what I want and just give it to me_, he thought. "D'you sleep okay?"

Aquamarine remained expressionless. "Well enough." She looked into his eye sockets. It made him feel guilty for the thoughts he was having. She was worth so much more. He could tell just by her eyes. "Tell me, what does a normal human's life entail?"

"Well, acshully, my life's a bit diff'ren' from a lot of people's. I fink cuz I'm in a band. Prob'ly also cuz I live on an island made of rubbish."

"What is 'rubbish'?"

"Er, it's like stuff people frow out when they don' wan' it anymore, or somefing. I fink."

"Oh, you mean like litter? The ocean is full of it. I guess it all gathers here." Aquamarine absent-mindedly wrapped her arms around his neck. 2D pulled her closer still. "Why do you live here if it is only unwanted litter?"

"Dunno. Haf'to ask Murdoc. He's the one who buil' this place."

Suddenly, a loud beeping noise filled the room. Aquamarine jumped a little, but 2D held her tightly. Then Murdoc's voice yelled,"Get up here, twerp. Just because you have a new plaything doesn't mean you're exempt from working. Oh, and bring the fish, too. I want to make sure she doesn't break anything." Another beep.

Aquamarine was quivering. "W-what th-that..._Posiedon_?"

"Whachoo mean? That was jus' Murdoc over the in'ercom."

"The..._what_?"

2D pointed to the speaker in the far corner of the ceiling. "The in'ercom. You talk into it in one room an' you can hear it in anovver. Murdoc mus' be in the Studio already."

"Intercom," she repeated. She kissed him, which surprised him. When she tried to pull away, he pulled her back in and lay down. He couldn't take it anymore. He needed satisfaction. He gently pulled at her thighs until she was straddling him. This drove him crazy. He managed to roll them both over until he was on top of her. He was just about to remove her bikini top when-

"I SAID NOW! If I don't hear the lift working in two minutes, I'm coming down there!"

2D broke the kiss. "We go'a go."

"But I can't walk."

"I'll help you." He got up from her and searched the floor for a pair of jeans he could slip on quickly. Out of the corner of his eye socket he saw that Aquamarine had flipped back on her belly and was watching him . Did she find him attractive the way he did her? She must. Otherwise she wouldn't have let him go so far.

She read his mind. "What were you doing just now?"

2D blushed a little, slightly embarrassed. "Nuffing."

"You seemed to really want to do something to me. What were you planning on doing?"

She didn't know what sex was. Which made it all that much worse.

"Lis'n, love, we need to ge' ups'airs really quick before I ge' into trouble."

"With Murdoc? Is he your king?"

This stung 2D a little. "No! I can do wha'ever I damn well please, fank you." His eye sockets widened and he looked away. He hadn't meant to sound _that_ mad.

But Aquamarine wasn't phased. "Then why do you obey him?"

"Becuz...er..." What was he supposed to say to that? _Because I have low self-esteem and I'm afraid he'll hurt me if I don't?_ He couldn't say that in front of a girl he'd just tried to bang. "S'hard to exp'ain."

2D zipped his pants up and crossed the room back to the cot. He carefully took her arms and placed them around his neck. She held on, but flopped like a rag doll. "No, see, you haf'to _try_ to walk, right. Use the muscles in your legs." With a little trial and error and 2D for support, she made it all the way to the lift.

And with a little perseverance and divine intervention, 2D had made it all night without ruining his new companion.

* * *

><p>They found Murdoc sitting in a chair next the the controls, absent-mindedly twanging his bass, his black hair obscuring his eyes as he bent down over his instrument. 2D thought he looked almost peaceful this way, maybe even vulnerable.<p>

"Hello, you two," he muttered without looking up. "How was last night?" He sniggered hideously.

"Er, we didn'." 2D felt fairly secure saying this in front of Aquamarine, who would have no idea what he meant, but Murdoc might change all of that.

"Huh. Not like you, _Pretty-boy_. She put up a fight or something?"

2D glanced at Aquamarine, who was now standing on her own, glancing around the room, taking in the wires, keyboards, posters, and various other clutter which made the studio on Plastic Beach slightly claustrophobic. 2D whispered, "Didn' try, really. I fink I'm gonna wait."

"And why is that? Out of practice? Feeling old now that you're in your thirties?" Murdoc fairly shouted. "You know, if it's education that's the problem, I can teach her a thing or two-"

"No!" 2D felt like punching him in the face, but the outcome would be humilitating in front of the girl.

"Then you'd better get on that, twerp, before I do it for you." Murdoc rested his bass against the side of the chair and stood up. He sauntered right up into 2D's face. "I'll bet you a hundred pounds you can't get in her pants in two days."

"I don' fink I could pay you right now-"

"You lose, I get to have my way with her. You win, I'll pay _you_ a hundred pounds."

2D stared at him. His hideous mouth was pulled into a hideous smirk on his already hideous face, which was hideously close to his own. He felt himself sweat a little. Either way, things were not going to happen the way he had hoped. There was no way he was going to let Murdoc touch her, but he couldn't do anything to her now; that would be considered rape.

He opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a sort of African drum track. At first he thought Murdoc had accidentally hit a button, but he looked and saw that he was too far away for that. Nothing seemed to be on and no one else could've done. Except...

2D looked over at Aquamarine.

Who wasn't there.

He began to panic. How could this happen? She couldn't walk. 2D and Murdoc began to wander around the room, tripping on instruments, crushing plastic cases and bumping into each other as they looked in and under every viable hiding place. It wasn't for another couple minutes that it crossed his mind what had happened.

By this time, Murdoc had vanished as well. "Hey, Faceache, check this out!" He called.

From the recording booth.

Aquamarine had found the Tupano drum.

Stepping in the doorway of the recording booth, he could see her bouncing around, her wild hair swaying with her. Her hands moved like lightning over the drum and she seemed not to notice anyone around her. And she was good. She was _really_ good. Perfect rhythm, flawless technique. Not that 2D knew much about these things. Russel would have had more knowledge in this area. She kind of almost looked like Russel now...dark skin and all, absorbed in the music, looking almost wise in her severe concentration.

When she stopped, there was no applause. 2D and Murdoc were in too much awe.

"Where...where the _bloody Hell_ did you learn to do that?" Murdoc asked in a hushed voice.

Aquamarine looked up and seemed surprised to see them watching her. "Oh, well, it is an important skill for warriors to learn to play a drum," she said. "It serves as a warning to whatever enemy may be near. "

"How'd you ge' over 'ere, anyway? I fot you couldn' walk?"

Aquamarine's face remained blank. "You showed me how. It wasn't hard. I just copied you."

2D looked at Murdoc. He was still staring at the mermaid, his mouth slightly and dumbly ajar. He nudged him. Murdoc shook his head slowly and anounced, "Welcome to the band!"  
>"What?"<p>

"Well, the way I see it, we need a drummer, and you have the know-how. Plus, seeing as you're a wild animal, we don't have to pay you-"

"WHAT? I'M AN _ANIMAL?_"

Murdoc shut his trap and backed out of the room. _Ha, put him in his place, didn't you, love,_ 2D thought triumphantly. He went behind her and held her close. "Tha' was amazin' you know tha'?"

"I guess." She was silent for awhile, studying the drum. "I like it when you hold me," she finally said, matter-of-factly.

"Well, I like holdin' you." He kissed the top of her head.

And somehow, he could feel that he wasn't alone in feeling this way.


	7. Rhinestone Eyes

**This is it: The Sex Scene. It's fairly graphic so if you're not into that kind of thing, turn away now. This chapter's fairly short because it's basically just filler/porn and there's nothing really all that important, it just sets up the next chapter. Enjoy, lovers of fictional sex!**

"I have already heard this song at least forty times."

"I know, angelfish, but I want to make sure you know what we're all about musically, if that makes any sense. Last time today, I promise."

Aquamarine settled back into the chair and slipped the earphones back over her ears. After so much of them her head was starting to hurt. And she was also bored, and wanted to find 2D.

Murdoc had been tutoring her for hours that day, helping her find her way around a drum set, showing her how to hold drum sticks, teaching her terminology, playing recordings and analyzing percussion. It had been so for at least a week, and if things didn't pick up soon, Aquamarine was considering calling the whole thing off. Not that she had any idea what it meant to be in a band; she wasn't entirely sure what a "band" was yet. All she knew was that Murdoc was trying to teach her many things at once that seemed useless in the end.

The song ended and Murdoc made her answer a few questions about what she had learned that day. When she aswered correctly, Murdoc dismissed her. She knew Murdoc was safe, but as she walked away she could feel his eyes on her, hungrily watching. Maybe it had to do with this big secret that the two men were hiding from her: the necessity of clothing, the way 2D looked at her and touched her, the way Murdoc laughed whenever they talked vaguely of things they told her she wouldn't understand. She had even walked in on Murdoc looking at pictures of naked females in the studio one night. There were so many things that neither of them would explain to her, and it nearly drove her mad. That's why she wanted so badly to be free: to get it out of 2D once and for all.

She found him on the dock, absent-mindedly plucking at a guitar and humming along quietly. Ugh. More music. But she said nothing and sad down next to him, dangling her feet into the water that seemed to pull magnetically at her legs. But she couldn't go back. If she did, the king would make _sure _she was dead.

She watched him, not making any noise. The way his blue hair glistened in the sun and the sound of his singing made her feel weak. She almost couldn't take how attractive he was because she knew it would only hurt her in the end. She especially loved it when his voice went into the higher notes. In a strange way, it reminded her of the voice of a dolphin, which, underwater, was beautiful the way it echoed through the water. She studied the way his fingers caressed the strings of the guitar and could almost feel his touch on her skin. She liked it when he touched her. She liked it a lot, actually. She was breaking down, and it terrified her. What if her weakness for him rendered her helpless?

The music stopped and he looked at her and smiled. "Hullo, Aqua."

"I wanted to talk to you," she droned, trying to be as unemotional as possible.

"'Bout what, love?"

"What is the secret that you and Murdoc are hiding from me?"

2D's eyebrows pinched together in that confused look he always got. "Dunno wha' your talkin' about," he answered. "I don' keep nuffing from you."

"You are. And I will prove it. Neither of you have ever once answered my questions about the purpose of clothing, or what you talk about to each other that I will not understand, or the naked females on Murdoc's computer. And you will touch me or kiss me a certain way and then pretend you never did. You are keeping something from me. Do not deny it!"

2D said nothing for too long. She hadn't meant to sound so upset, but she wanted answers. When he didn't answer, she begged, "Please, 2D, tell me what the secret is. Maybe it will help me better adapt to human life-"

2D mumbled something.

"What?"

"S'called...sex."

"What is that?"

"Well, like, the main purpose is to make babies, or somefing, but a lo' of people do it just cuz it feels good-"

"What does that have to do with me?"

More silence. His face had also gotten a very dark pink. He looked away from her now, which Aquamarine _really_ didn't like. "2D," she nearly whispered. "Is there something you want from me?"

He still wouldn't look at her, but after a moment he nodded slowly. "Yeah. I do."

"Maybe I can give it to you if you tell me what it is."

2D's hand wandered to her thigh and he looked, not at her face, but at her body. "I'd...haf'to show you..."

"Then show me."

Wordlessly, 2D set his guitar down on the wooden dock, stood up, and helped her to her feet. He took her hand in his. It was shaking. "Is something wrong?" Aquamarine asked.

He shushed her. "Just come wiff me." He led her inside.

* * *

><p>In his room, he told her to lie on the cot. She did. He lay on top of her, between her legs, the way he had before and began kissing her, more fervently than usual. His hands wandered across every inch of exposed skin and finally found their way to the knots holding Aqua's bikini top on her body. Reaching beneath her, he untied them and pulled off the scraps of fabric. His lips traveled down her neck, her collarbone, her chest, until they encircled her nipple. He sucked gently as he began untying the knots of her lower scrap. She felt her lower half leak something when he lifted himself off her and removed his own clothes. She felt a strange twitch when she saw what she knew must be his reproductive organs. What was going on? What was he doing and why did she want so badly for him to continue? Was this mating? Why did he want to reproduce with her?<p>

He lay on top of her again, his skin against hers feeling euphoric, and he began to work his way inside of her...

At first it hurt her, and she tried to protest, but he shushed her and soon it felt better, much better, better than anything she'd ever felt. She moaned quietly, but as it felt better she became louder. 2D's motions became rougher and faster as the feeling grew stronger and his breathing heavier. They were both sweating now from the heat and the movement, Aquamarine's hips slamming against 2D's uncontrollably, her legs shaking on their own.

She anticipated the eruption before it came, but still wasn't prepared for it. Her moans evolved into screams, her back arched, and her nails dug deep into 2D's flesh, but it didn't seem to hurt him. He didn't even seem to notice. 2D released a fluid inside of her and made a kind of small groaning himself.

It ended, and 2D pulled out of her and kissed her on the nose. "Tha's wha' I wan'ed," he whispered to her. "Tha's the secre'."

And Aquamarine felt as if she had been changed, as if there was no need to be strong anymore. When you were human, you didn't have to be.


	8. Broken

**It's true, for the last seven chapters, Aqua's been a Mary Sue. I took a test. So I decided maybe it's time for things to start falling apart in this story. There weren't really any problems until now. So here's my attempt to save my story. It may be feeble, and I may have failed, but I'm trying, and that's the important thing. It's not like I'm going to publish this and try to get rich off it. It's just for fun. **

**There's a drinking scene in this one. And brief language.**

They must've been lying there for hours.

2D ran his fingers down Aqua's spine, coasting over every vertebra and sliding through every valley. Aqua's head rested on his chest and he could feel her heartbeat on his stomach. He was so glad he'd waited. It hadn't been long, but it had been perfect. Exactly as he'd hoped.

Aquamarine had said she'd liked it, at least, which meant it wasn't rape. But then, he was never sure of what she _really_ meant; she was pretty unemotional most of the time. Sometimes he wondered if she could feel anything at all. But she must. Why else would she let him treat her this way if she couldn't?

"Do you think we reproduced?" she said, muffled underneath her hair and his chest.

"Dunno. We'll haf'to wai' an' see, I guess." He sure hoped not. The last thing he needed now was a kid thrown into all this madness.

"I hope we did."

2D's hand froze midway down her back. "W-why would you hope somefing like tha', love?"

"We would have good genes together. You are very talented as a human. I am a very strong fish. Our children will be invincible as warriors and brilliant musicians."

"And, er, wha' if we didn'?"

"We try again."

"Er." This wasn't what he'd expected from her. And this wasn't exactly what he'd wanted. But, as it stood, it seemed he was stuck with her. He couldn't just send her back into the ocean; she'd be killed. And she couldn't leave the band and leave that huge gap where a drummer would be. And she couldn't fend for herself in the human world; she barely knew how to retie her bikini strings. "You sure tha's whachoo wan', Aqua?"

"Yes." She kissed his bare skin. "More than anything."

_Dear Lord. What do I say now?_ He held her, but not so tightly now. He wasn't sure how he'd be able to continue this. Not with a _kid_...

Suddenly, a loud booming filled the room and the island around them shook. Aqua gripped his arms tightly, her nails digging into his skin painfully. He felt her heart rate spike and heard her gasp more quickly. She stiffened against him.

Beep. "It's only those sodding pirates again," Murdoc grumbled over the intercom. "Hang on." Beep.

There was the muffled sound of heavy artillary and, if you listened closely, the faintest hint of desperate screams. But it was hard to tell underwater. The island shook again and Aqua whimpered, pulling herself closer to 2D. And then, it was gone.

Aquamarine undug her nails from his skin. He felt like he was bleeding. "What was that?"

"'Appens all the time. S'nuffing, really." He let his arms slide from her back to his sides. In the dark, she would never see his disappointment. He could only give her so much of the things she wanted. And what if she was pregnant already? What would he do then? "Er, lis'n, I'n gonna go see how bad the damage is, but I'll be righ' back, yeah?"

"Okay." They switched positions and he got up, threw on his jeans and his shirt, and entered the lift. As the doors closed he could see that she was dozing off. He wanted to say something, but there was nothing he really wanted to tell her. He wasn't sure there was anything he wanted to tell her ever again.

* * *

><p>Murdoc was lounging against the desk in his study.<p>

"Hello, mate, have a glass with me," he slurred as 2D stepped into the room. He looked and saw the rum bottle in one hand and a glass in the other.

"No fanks," he said, feeling the churning in his stomach worsen at the thought of putting something in it. "Er, is anyfing wrecked or stolen, or anyfing?"

"Yeah, actually. Remember recording 'Stylo'? They stole the single. Probably going to leak it any day now. Who knows? Could already be leaked." He laughed with a kind of loopy mania. 2D could see that he was wasted out of his mind. But then, this was good for him. Murdoc, surprisingly, wasn't a violent drunk. He'd actually be able to talk to him in this state. He was almost bearable in this way. _Almost_. "It's pretty funny, don't you think?"

"Sure." 2D now sat down on the staircase to the roof, staring at the books in the bookcase, wishing one of them could tell him what to say to Aqua.

"Where's the fish? I thought you were in love with her."

"She's sleepin'."

"Why's that?"

"B'cause she's tired, I guess."

"Why?"

"Cuz we finally did."

"Oh, brilliant! You should tell me all about it!" Murdoc made a clumsy flourishing motion with the hand with the glass and dropped it. It shattered. "Oops. Oi, Cyborg!"

The mechanical Japanese-looking girl woodenly marked into the room. "Clean this up!" the Cyborg made a salute to Murdoc that would've made 2D snort in other circumstances and began to suck up the pieces with an internal vacuum. "And more rum!" He looked back at 2D with his mismatched eyes glazed. "Now, tell me, was it any good?"

"It was alrigh'"

"Why only 'alright'? Did she not cooperate or something?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"Nuffing." He couldn't bring himself to form the words in his mouth, even to a drunk Murdoc who wouldn't remember them in the morning. Instead, he studied his knee closely. A small rip was developing in his jeans.

"You know, it could be me hallucinating again," Murdoc started up again. "But I think I saw the Boogeyman again today. On that pirate ship. And I think he's coming back for me later. I know he is." He laughed again, only nervously this time, and took a swig directly out of the bottle.

2D changed his mind. He got up, crossed to Murdoc, and took the bottle from his hand, taking a long swig of it. Murdoc smirked at this. "A little distraught, are we, faceache?"

2D didn't look at him. "Maybe." He handed the bottle back to Murdoc, who drank from it again.

"Tell me, what did the fish do that was so terrible that you have to share a rum bottle with old Mudzy, eh?"

2D swallowed hard. Maybe in this state, Murdoc could help. He must have been in a situation like this before. Still, he hesitated before saying, "Aqua wan's kids."

Murdoc laughed his tipsy laugh again. "She's just an animal, you know that, right? Animals mate only to reproduce." Murdoc made to walk away from the desk, but found himself too unstable. He slammed himself back against the furniture. "Fat chance you'll get any kids from her, though."

"Whachoo mean?" 2D snapped. "Whachoo try'na say?"

"I'm _sayyying_ she kind of, er," he looked around him as if someone might be listening, then leaned closer to 2D and nearly whispered, "Well, she's _broken_."

2D's eyes narrowed. "How's tha'?"

"Well, when I chopped her tail off, I had to take out her reproductive organs along with it, of course. Wouldn't funtion properly with her legs. The problem is, when you clone something, it's not..._fertile_."

2D petrified at the words. It was good for him, sure, but this would kill Aqua. And how was he supposed to tell her this?

"Which means, "Murdoc shouted as he backed off. "You can fuck her all you want without any consequences!" Murdoc made a rainbow with his arms and nearly fell over backwards. He took another swig of rum. "Don't you think that's great?"

That _was_ true. But did he only want her for that reason? He was never really sure. She was fascinating, after all, but did he really want a relationship after all he'd been through as far as women were concerned? And if he did, how long would it be until Murdoc swooped in and ruined everything like he always did? Maybe it was hopeless. Maybe he should keep her at an emotional distance after all.

2D took the bottle and took another long swig before returning to the bed he shared with Aquamarine.


	9. Tomorrow Comes Today

**More reasons why it sucks to be Murdoc right now. Fairly short. Aqua kind of explodes here (that's right..."I love you, 2D-" KABOOM! jk). Just dialogue between Murdoc and Aqua, but you learn a lot. Things are getting more complicated. Please review and let me know that my story is on its way back up. I had a rocky few middle chapters but my writer's block is gone and I think I have something semi-decent.**

Murdoc woke up in the afternoon, his head pounding and his insides churning, lying on the study floor. His whole body ached, and an empty bottle lay next to him, reeking of alcohol.

Not again.

He chuckled to himself as he sat up, but not too quickly, and was surprised to see Aquamarine sitting with her legs crossed not a yard away, watching him with curiousity. Her face was expressionless and her eyes looked intelligent. _Too_ intelligent. Like she now knew something she hadn't before.

"Angelfish," he mumbled, clutching his head. "What are you doing here?"

"Why did you sleep on the floor here instead of in a bed?"

"Too much rum, apparently."

"What is 'rum'?"

"Just a drink. I doubt you'd like it." Murdoc realized his inverted cross was hanging along his back. He reached back slowly and pulled it to the front of his torso. "Where's the twerp? Why aren't you with him?"

"I think I have upset him."

"Why's that? Did you say no when he asked you for, er, something?"

"No. We have mated." There was just the slightest hint of melancholy as she averted her green eyes to the stained carpet. This was odd. _You'd think she'd be jumping for joy after that_, Murdoc thought. _If she really still thinks she can have kids_.

"And what's wrong with that? You didn't like it? Because if not, I can show you how you _really_ do it..." He sniggered. But she was not amused.

"I am already mated. Why would I mate with another man?"

"Never mind. Why do you think you've upset him?"

"He will not talk to me. He will not look at me in the eyes. He is pretending that I do not exist."

"But if he's pretending, then he still notices you," He offered. Aqua glared at him. "Sorry. Er, did you try mating with him again?"

"You do not understand!" She shouted urgently and suddenly. Her face now displayed genuine sorrow, the most emotion he'd ever seen from her. "I have this feeling. It feels as if I need him. As if I will never survive if I lose him. I have grown weak. I have grown weak just for him."

Murdoc's eyes widened. What a waste. "You...love him?"

"What is 'love'?"

"Sounds like what you just described. Listen, angelfish, I think maybe you've gotten too attached to the wrong person. I don't know if this is healthy for you to feel this way-"

"I _know_ it is not! I used to be invicible! I never let myself care so much about anyone before! There was a time where I was the cruelest creature in the ocean, a time when I could have killed my own mother if I had to. But somehow 2D has changed me. Has ruined me."

"I see." Murdoc pulled his knees up and draped his arms around them coolly. "Well, maybe if you experienced something with someone else, you'd change your mind?" Hint hint.

Aquamarine got up and crossed to the panaramic window on the far wall. She placed her palms on the glass and stared for a moment in a longing silence. "I want to go back."

"Absolutely not!" Murdoc stood up as well, but too quickly and had to stumble through the dizziness to his feet. "We need you here. Besides, you'd never survive down there, after what I've done to you. You're fitted for land life now."

"There _must be a way_!" she yanked herself from the window to face Murdoc. "I've left my people suffering down there. They are enslaved by their own kind. And I am the one, perhaps the only one, who can do anything about it. You cannot stop me from leaving. You are _not my king_!"

"Settle down, Aqua-"

"That is not my name! I do not belong here! I am _not_ a human! I am a merperson superior to all creatures of land and air!"

Murdoc cautiously approached Aqua, who was now shaking with rage, and wrapped his arms around her. She didn't reciprocate. He kissed her on the temple but she was cold as ice and still smelled like the ocean. Maybe he had been wrong to change her. Maybe, for once, he'd been wrong. He'd only done it for selfish purposes, after all, just so he could have a good time. But this was the one time he could see that maybe his selfish actions affected other people's lives. The women he'd impregnated. The families of the people he'd killed. The friends he'd betrayed...

But then, he finally had his arms around Aqua. Nope. In the end, it was all about him.

"Please, Angelfish, just let me take you to my bedroom and-"

"_Get. Off. Me._"

Murdoc obliged, scowling bitterly. Such a shame. He'd hoped the twerp would only break her in for him, but he was controlling her now. What a terrible waste.

"I am leaving, " She announced, her voice wavering. "I swear it. By the time the sun has risen tomorrow, I _will_ be gone."


	10. Starshine

**Aqua's attempt to run away. There's a little bit of abuse and kind-of violence in it. Also I tried to fix some other bugs I found in earlier chapters. This is a long one, but hopefully it's worth it. Stuff actually happens here! Yay! Review please.**

Aquamarine awoke in the dark, feeling vulnerable. Before she had fallen asleep, she and 2D had mated again. I didn't hurt so much this time, but it didn't feel as good. But maybe after the second time the novelty wore off. When they had finished, he hadn't said a word to her. He didn't hold her. He only lay there and breathed apathetically.

_Maybe he will care when he finds me gone_, she thought to herself now. _Then he will realize that he is the weak one._

Aquamarine was careful the way she slipped out from between the blanket and 2D's body, making an effort not to disturb either more than necessary. She knelt on the floor and searched for her bikini. She didn't need it at home, but it was force of habit, she supposed. Besides; underwater, human reproductive organs were considered vulgar. She found the pieces and blindly tied the strings together.

walking as softly as she could, Aquamarine stalked to the lift, listening to the pattern of 2D's sleep-breathing and looking over her shoulder once or twice. When she found it safe, she gradually pressed the glowing button pointing upward.

It pinged in response, echoing through the room as the doors opened. _Shit_, she thought, a curse she had learned from Murdoc. She looked behind her. In the glow of the lift's lights, she saw that 2D was stirring. She froze. But he only scratched his nose and went limp and silent once more. She squeezed through the closing lift doors and pressed the button for the ground floor, knowing there was nothing he could do now, even if he awoke.

Tattoo was asleep against a dingy wall near the lift. _This will be easy_, She thought._ I am as good as free_. Still, she was as quiet as possible turning the wheel of the front door. She could already smell the ocean calling her, comforting her, washing away her newfound weaknesses. With that scent she was already stronger. She smiled faintly and pulled open the door discreetly.

Aqua had never been outside at night before, and she was surprised by the small pinpricks of light shimmering across the black sky. She had never seen anything like it. And there were so _many_ of them.

But she couldn't afford to be entranced by them. She refocused on the task at hand and surveyed to path to the dock. Nothing.

But then she heard footsteps.

Looking to her far left, she could see the cyborg marching along the litter-made beach in the dim, silver glow. It was odd, because usually by this time she was powered down and hooked to those eels in that closet on the engine room floor.

Murdoc.

She had to give him credit; he was an intelligent man after all. He'd created this mechanical human on his own, and had single-handedly destroyed one of the biggest threats to King Neptune's reign. And he certainly knew when to take a threat seriously. Aquamarine had to admit: Murdoc knew what he was doing.

Still, the cyborg was not human and could be easily tricked. All she would have to do would be to dash out into the ocean while the machine wasn't looking, and she'd be gone for good. It couldn't run. And though Aquamarine was shaky when it came to doing anything with her legs besides walking, she'd manage well enough. As long as there was enough distance between her and the cyborg, it wouldn't really matter.

Aquamarine studied the pattern of the cyborg's marching, determining when to time her dash for freedom. She found a window, and ran for it.

Running down the stairs was a skill she had yet to learn. She struggled to keep her balance while still keeping her eye on the cyborg, who had not yet noticed her. She just barely held on to control as she reached the last step.

Where she fell.

Aqua's face landed hard against sand-covered trash and she could feel a small cut starting to bleed on her right cheek. She struggled to get up before the cyborg, who was marching toward her, could catch her, but just as she stood up, it seized her around the waist and was carrying her back inside.

"GET OFF ME!" Aqua screamed, hoping she would startle it. "LET ME GO! YOU HAVE NO AUTHORITY TO TOUCH ME IN THIS WAY!" She squirmed, trying to find a weak spot in the cyborg's grip, but its skin-covered, metal arms were unforgiving and cold. It charged through the open doorway to the lobby and pushed the lift button down. Aqua continued to struggle. "YOU ARE NOT EVEN A LIVING CREATURE! YOU ARE NOT MY MASTER! PUT ME DOWN!" The lift pinged open and the cyborg pressed for 2D's bedroom. Aquamarine tried kicking it in the shins, only to find that the creature was too solid. Her heels stung and her eyes watered from the pain as she kept screaming and fighting. But the mechanical human was a stone, an unmoving statue of imprisonment and betrayal.

The lift doors opened again, and the cyborg threw Aquamarine onto the floor of the room and was gone within seconds. Aqua let out long, furious shriek.

2D gasped awake at the sound of her screaming and realized she was not in bed with him. He jerked into a sitting position. "Somefing wrong?"

"I will tell you what is wrong!" She cried, crumpled on her side on the cold floor. "This island. That metal human. The band. Murdoc. My new body. And, especially..._you._"

"Me? W-wha'd I do?"

"Because of you I am stuck here! I cannot swim, I cannot talk, and now I probably cannot even kill! You will not let me leave, but you do not make me want to stay! You think I am a pet, a plaything that you can just set aside in a corner and forget about! But I am more than that. I have emotions. I have hopes and ambitions. I am _worth_ something!" When he said nothing, she continued: "You think that just because I am not human, I am below you. I am just another animal to you. But I am just as civilized as you! Do not make the mistake that I cannot and will not do damage! I WILL! I WILL _MAKE_ YOU RESPECT ME! _I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I_-" Her eyes stung, and water filled them rapidly. She let out uncontrollable sobs of despair into the frigid air of the room. She thought the emotion alone would kill her. She was that weak.

She heard the rustle of cloth and small thud, and then felt a warm hand on her shoulder. But she did not have to will to shrug it away. She opened her eyes and could barely make out 2D's form in the darkness and through the tears. "I didn' know you fel' tha' way. I fot you liked it 'ere."

"I am a fish. I am not meant to live on land."

"S'not even land, really. S'jus' an island made ou' of rubbish, is all." 2D lay down next to her and took her hands in his. "D'you know why I saved you?"

"Because you were bored? Because you wanted to entertain yourself?"

"No. I was lonely. I don' really coun' Murdoc as company. He don' trea' me righ'. I figured if I could save your life, then, y'know, maybe we'd be friends or somefing. And then maybe it wouldn' be so bad ro'ing here wiff Murdoc, being forced to do fings I didn' wanna do, jus' because I was afraid he'd hur' me if I didn'." He paused. "Bu' you're righ', I haven' trea'ed you wiff any respeck. I dunno. Maybe it's cuz of all the women who've hur' me in the pas'. I'm sorry, love. You don' deserve it." He kissed her knuckles.

Aquamarine stared at him. Although she could only see an outline and feel his body heat, the little she could sense was beautiful. Maybe she was just grateful not to be dead after all. There was always the chance that her feelings for him were strictly gratitude. But she didn't believe it. Despite his treatment of her, she could still see the good in him. "Will I ever be allowed to return to the ocean?" she asked him.

"I wanna keep you 'ere. I'm no' le'ing you ge' yourself killed."

"I want to leave this place. I want to _go home_."

"You are home. Home is where people care abou' you and take care of you an' everyfing. And I'm gonna try to do tha' f'you."

Her eyes continued to leak and spill onto the floor beneath her. Nobody had ever promised her anything like that before.

"Y'know wha' I like abou' you?"

Aqua looked up to where his eye sockets would be. For a moment the leaking stopped.

"You're tough. You don' le' no one tell you wha' to do. An' you can stan' up to Murdoc. I wish I could do tha'".

"I only do what I know how."

"But see, tha's the bes' par'. You can jus' do it au'oma'ic'ly and everyfing. But me, no ma'er how hard I try I still can' stick up for meself. I really admire you for tha'".

Aqua scooted closer to him and 2D pulled her into his arms. He kissed her forhead, then her lips, and let her leak onto his skin. He didn't seem to mind. Occasionally he would whisper something comforting to her. She felt a balance, a stability that hadn't been there before, as if this-he-was something she could rely on.

In the morning she woke up with his arms still around her.


	11. To Binge

**Pivotal chapter in the story. I tried to make it more romantic, and I think I might've succeeded. idk, just review and let me know how I did. If Aquamarine doesn't respond the way she should've it's because it's almost 2 in the morning where I am and I JUST finished. Anyway, enjoy!**

2D wasn't sure how to start taking care of Aqua. After all, it sounded like all she really wanted was to go back to the one place she could never show her face again. But he was determined to show her that he truly did care for her. He mulled it over while he got dressed and had a quick cup of tea, and came to a solution; he would row her out a few meters into the water. It was simple enough, just to take Aqua in the rowboat and drift just barely off the plastic coastline, but it was a gesture he was sure she'd appreciate.

Meanwhile, he lent Aqua a t-shirt to slip on over her bikini. It was awfully distracting when she wore that thing, and he'd be able to keep his intentions more honest if she had something to cover it up. It was a little big on her, but he thought she looked cute and he told her so. She only stared at him blankly.

Outside it was hot and humid on the island, the temperature well into the nineties and felt much worse. But as the rowboat inched away from Plastic Beach, the atmosphere cooled rapidly around them. 2D rowed out into the water just barely enough to be out of reach from the heat waves surrounding the island. He stopped and let the oars dangle lazily in the waves.

"What are we doing?" Aqua asked, her green eyes shimmering with the reflection of the water. 2D couldn't help but notice.

"Well, you wan'ed to go back to the ocean, righ', bu' I can' le' you ge' killed. So this is the closes' I can take you." He waited impatiently for a response.

Aquamarine remained deadpan for a few more moments, staring at him. But she finally let a smile break out and shine. "It is a good intention. You are trying." She turned away and skimmed the water with her fingers. The corner of 2D's mouth turned up, watching her like this. It was the happiest he had seen her.

She sunk her hand mid-palm, grinning broadly, then wrist-high, then leaning over to sink in to her elbows. She was laughing now, a sound he had never heard from her before. She was leaning in farther and farther, giggling excitedly and staring wide-eyed at the salty ocean luring her in. 2D was thrilled to see her enjoying herself so much.

Just then, he thought he heard the bellowing of a whale and jerked his head in the general direction, tensing up and preparing to row back to the island as quick as possible, when he heard a splash. He jerked back to where Aquamarine had been sitting to find-

-She was gone.

"Aqua?" He whispered, trembling. Had the whale taken her? Was it after him next? He gathered his wits just enough to raise his voice. "Aqua! Did the whale ge' you? Aqua, come back!" He leaned over the side where she had fallen in, hoping to see her and expecting to see a giant whale eye when he felt a weight on the other side. 2D jolted upright, his eye sockets widened.

"Are you looking for me?"

2D's heart slowed a little at the sound of Aqua's computerized voice. At least she was safe. He turned to her. "Don' scare me like tha', love! I fot a whale had go'en you or somefing!"

Aquamarine giggled cutely. "You are forgetting that I come from the sea, and that whales do not harm my kind." 2D grabbed her by the elbows and lifted her back into the boat, struggling to keep a grip on her slippery skin. She sat back down in her spot and smiled at him. "I almost thought about leaving. But I want to stay. I want to be with my mate."

2D's eyebrows furrowed. "Er...mate?"

"Yes. We have performed the human mating ritual. Does that not mean we are mated?"

"Oh, that. Well, I guess so." 2D sat with his elbows resting on his knees and thought a little bit. _This would be the perfect time to ask her_, he thought. _This is romantic enough, isn't it? Alone on a sailboat in the ocean? But maybe mermaids have different ideas about what's romantic._ He could feel his heart race a little bit. _Just go for it!_ "Er, lis'n Aqua, er, I know we haven' known each ovver too long, bu' d'you, erm, wanna be, er..."

Aquamarine studied him. "What do you want me to be?"

"My...girlfriend?"

There was a murderous silence in which 2D felt as if he might die, or at least want to.

"What does that mean?"

"In a, er, relationship...wiff...me..."

"I thought we already were bound to each other. Isn't that why you mated with me?"

"Er, I...guess so?"

"Is a 'girlfriend' a human word for mate? If so, then I would love to be."

2D only nodded, half-smiling. If this is what it took to keep her, he would be anything to her she wanted. Aqua fairly fell forward into 2D and wrapped her arms around him, soaking through his clothes with her own drenched t-shirt. But it was okay. It kind of felt good, even. He kissed her on the temple and held her close. Aqua then pulled away just enough to kiss his lips, her own tasting salty. It was strangely delicious.

"Our offspring will be in good hands," she whispered in his ear. "You will make a good father."

Oh. That. He'd forgotten.

"Lis'n, abou' tha'-"

"I cannot wait until we finally reproduce. They will be beautiful, healthy, strong-"

"Murdoc says tha'-"

"They will have your weakness, I am sure, but it is a good weakness, it will suit them-"

"Murdoc made it so you can't have kids!"

Aquamarine stopped talking and pushed away from 2D, staring at him. He couldn't make eye contact. "What? I cannot reproduce?"

"Tha's wha' Murdoc said. He says you're broken...Somefing abou' cloning...S'not my faul'-"

"Why did you mate with me if you knew I could not produce offspring?" 2D dared to glance at her not. She looked cold and uncaring now, her eyes narrowed and her chin held high.

"Well, I fot you would like it, and it fel' good an'-"

"There is no reason for me to stay now, is there?"

2D looked at her now and grabbed a firm hold of her arm. "You can' go back, love. You'll die. I won' le' you! Look, I'm sorry tha' you can' have my babies, bu' there's more t'life than kids, yeah? We can be happy wivvout them. I promise you I'll give you anyfing else you wan', just stay wiff me, Aqua! I didn' save your life f'nuffing."

She wouldn't look at his face. Instead, she tore her arm away and backed off. "You have destroyed me! You take away my tail, you bar me from my home and now this? Why should I stay? You will only destroy me more! You and Murdoc have ruined my life! I hate you!"

She launched herself off the rowboat and disappeared in a ripple beneath the waves.

2D let the tears trickle down his cheeks. He couldn't save her this time, and neither could Murdoc. At this point, Aquamarine was as good as dead.


	12. All Alone

**Not gonna lie to you, this chapter is 1600 words of filler. But I need to bridge the gap between Aqua's escape and...well, I can't tell you what happens next. But this is life on Plastic Beach after Aqua has left for a few days. You see a side of Murdoc that's almost not there to be noticed, and I hope you can pick up on the difference between what Murdoc tells himself and how he really feels. Review please!**

If Murdoc had known that Aquamarine was serious about leaving, he might've actually tried to avoid it. He'd been under the impression that she was at least mildly interested in him and that she wouldn't leave _this_ behind. But, as he stared down into the choppy waters from the lighthouse, he began to re-evaluate his choices. He'd taken a wild animal, turned her into a frankenstein experiment, tried and failed to tame her, and laughed in her face at her despair. On top of that, she was now back in the wild without the tools she needed to survive. It had been three days. By now she was probably dead.

Murdoc sat alone in the stuffy lighthouse, overcrowded by the bulb but left a small space for some basic recording equipment. He'd been working on a radio show to tell his fans about the new album, but now he wasn't so sure. Morale had been low the last three days, and without a drummer and the will, the band was falling to pieces. Murdoc had resumed heavy drinking on a daily instead of occasional basis, broken into his reserves of halucinogenic drugs, and stopped playing the bass altogether, recreationally or otherwise.

2D had been acting slower than usual, and Murdoc knew what that meant: more painkillers. The twerp didn't eat or sleep either-Murdoc had heard the lift going at odd hours of the night and during his own trips upstairs, an eery, sparce piano melody, played over and over, never stopping, never changing. It _had_ crossed his mind to go in there and say something, but he stopped himself. He didn't care enough about him to make the effort and besides, as much as he hated to admit it, he needed solace of his own.

Even the cyborg seemed upset. She was far less responsive to his commands and glitched a lot more frequently.

A strange, greenish fog had settled over the island as well, and it was suffocating. Murdoc found that half the time he couldn't breathe. He'd wake up in the middle of the night, barely able to gasp enough to keep himself alive. Then, the next moment, his airways cleared, and he could return to his restless, guilt-ridden sleep.

It wasn't that he'd ruined the life of an already troubled creature; it was that he'd never made good on his promise to himself to have her. He'd had a beautiful girl in his house and he didn't even take advantage of it. Plus, he'd spent so much time and _money_ on the thing. That devise in her throat had cost more than he was willing to admit to.

Now, Murdoc took the bottle of rum to his lips. It burned and stung, but he felt calmer when his mind wasn't so clear. In the alcohol his world was only so big and so painful as the brown bottle in his fist.

There were footsteps echoing up the spiral staircase and Murdoc's ears perked up. Maybe it was the Boogeyman, coming for him...

The footsteps localized, and a tuft of blue hair peeked out over the steps. "What do you want, faceache?" he grumbled half-heartedly as 2D's foot reached the landing.

"You seem lone'y up here, s'all." 2D stood there with his hands in his pockets and his shirt off. "An' I'm sick o' the quie'."

"We're not exactly friends, you know. Why don't you go sod off?"

2D didn't budge.

"I'd beat the crap out of you if I wasn't so bloody miserable-"

"You finkin' 'bou' Aqua too?"

Murdoc shook his head. "Don't say her name, mate. It's too sad. Let's just forget we ever met her."

"I don' wanna forge' her. She mean' too much t'me-"

"Oh, is _that_ why you stopped taking care of her after you banged? Because she meant _so much_ to you? You know, you have no right to get on _my_ case for putting myself before the fish. You weren't any better than me."

"Tha's no' true! You don' know everyfing tha' wen' on b'tween me an' her."

Murdoc narrowed his eyes at him. "She came to me the day before she left, complaining about you. She told me you were ignoring her. She was convinced she'd lost you." Murdoc took another swig from the bottle. "Seems to me you're the reason she left."

"She lef' because I tol' her abou' whachoo did to her reproduc'ive sys'em! Cuz she can' have kids! Tha's _your_ faul'!"

"I don't think that's why. You should've heard the way she talked about you-"

"You shoulda seen whachoo done to her-"

"The bloody thing was in love with you, dammit! And you would've seen that, too, if you hadn't been so concerned with having your way with her! If you had showed her even the slightest shred of respect, I guarantee you she would've stayed! It wouldn'tve mattered that she couldn't have your children!" Murdoc turned away bitterly and drank again, tilting his head back and gulping deeply. He ripped the bottle from his mouth and gasped for breath. "Maybe you're too stupid to keep a girl. Hell, you can't even keep a fish around. Whatever. What's done is done. You can go home or wherever if you want. I don't really want you around anyway."

2D slowly lowered himself to the floor and sat down. Out of the corner of his eye, Murdoc saw his face was in his hands. Wouldn't be long now before he started blubbering like a child.

But he didn't. He was a stone, unresponsive and dead. Murdoc drank again.

"Wha' abou' the band?" 2D mumbled through his hands. "Donchoo need me f'tha'?"

Murdoc reflected on this. He glanced at his singer. He glanced at the reels of recorded radio shows and his stacks of old records. Last of all, he glanced at his own hands, calloused from years of music, years of dreaming and goal-setting, years of relative success. He felt tired thinking about it all, and he was starting to feel drunk. Again. Formulaically, life had been the same since 1998. He was still and druggee and 2D was still an idiot. It was the same old story. Not even a mythical creature could screw up the monotony of his life.

"No. There is no band. As of now, Gorillaz is dead."

* * *

><p>Murdoc didn't sleep that night. Would he really let Gorillaz, his pride and joy, die just like that? Was he really willing to give up that easily? But he should've known, ever since Noodle disappeared, it was the beginning of the end. Still, he'd given everything to this band. For a decade, Gorillaz was literally his life. He'd battled so hard just to keep it going that he sometimes forgot to take care of himself. But there was no other option; Gorillaz was falling apart in his hands. After Aquamarine, something had changed in all of them-a strange dependency that had not been there before, and it went far beyond her brief role as drummer.<p>

And the way 2D had talked about her! Obviously he felt more for her than Murdoc had anticipated. It irritated him, the thought of love. It made him thrash around restlessly in his sleep. It destroyed everything. It had destroyed his band.

He remembered the night after Aqua told him of her feelings for 2D. He'd drunk himself unconsious. It made him sick, love did. Worse than he'd ever felt. And Aqua, saying she was in love with 2D...

Too much to bear now. Besides, she was gone and probably dead by now. He would never see her again. It was best now just to reshuffle his priorities, get rid of the twerp, and start a new project. Something, _anything_. Without the album giving his life purpose, he'd probably end up doing some major damage to himself.

Tonight, Murdoc had tried watching an adult movie, he'd tried masturbating, he'd tried heroin and rum and slitting his wrists, but nothing could distract him from the unbearable pain and loneliness he felt inside. He'd lost so much in the past few days: his band, his purpose in life, pride, hope, Aqua...

No. There was no Aquamarine, he told himself. Aquamarine was a semi-precious stone and a shade of blue. Mermaids didn't exist and even if they did, the chances of coming across one were slim to none.

He remembered, painfully, how Aqua had told him that before 2D she had been strong, how he had made her weak. And now Murdoc almost knew what she'd meant.

Murdoc gave up all hope of sleep and sat up, his forehead sticky with persperation underneath his thick blanket of greasy black hair. Examining his wrists, he saw the red lines scream across his green skin and he thought, _Christmas_. Funny time to be thinking about that, he thought. Yet another thing that made him sick; religious holidays. Murdoc took his inverted cross pendant, the metal cold against his bare torso, and kissed it. _Forgive me, Satan,_ he prayed silently. _I sold you my soul for nothing_.

Suddenly, his wall fairly exploded, leaving a neat, circular hole near the window. Shit. Another attack.

It's true it crossed his mind to go outside and stand, unprotected and unarmed, his arms open and desperate, but he couldn't do that in front of the twerp. He could never know how much pain he was in, had always been in. No, it was time to fight. Time to drag his sorry arse out of his hangover coffin, stop spilling his own blood, and make someone else _hurt_. Make another living being suffer the way he did.

Time to wake up the cyborg.


	13. Glitter Freeze

**Alright, so one of the symptoms of a Mary Sue is that they don't suffer any consequences in a battle or a dangerous situation. So, in order to make my character less of a mary sue, I put her in a lot of physical pain. I sincerely hope she's in enough pain to make it worth reading. I won't give too much away, but there is partial nudity and drug abuse in this chapter. But that's toward the end. Review please!**

_Damn you, Murdoc, for cursing me with these hideous legs!_ was all she could think about as she scrambled through the water for her life. She could no longer swim with the arches and valleys of a mermaid and had to resort to a sort of organized flailing, using her strong arms to make up the weakness in her legs through the unforgiving ocean.

It hadn't been _entirely_ her fault that the king's spies had seen her re-enter the sea; an idiotic pair of youths had gotten themselves caught trying to recover her body. She guessed they were trying to start their own rebellion. Fools. Because of them, she'd had to make a dash for her life the minute she'd left 2D 's side. She'd been on the run ever since.

Aquamarine may not have been able to swim as before, but her quick wit and instinctive survival skills had kept her alive and out of sight. Until now...

It had been so simple. All she had done was forget to properly observe the surroundings before exiting a cave she had slept in the night before. And now they were on her..._heels_, she thought grudgingly. Closing in and bearing spears and kelp rope. _Shit._

She had realized earlier on in the chase that in this state, the only place she could go now, the only true safe haven was Plastic Beach. 2D and Murdoc had been right. She couldn't survive here in the ocean. Ironically, her only hope was the one place she had been originally meant to die. She could easily find it, as she was so familiar with the scent after living there for nearly a fortnight. She followed it, a stench of rotting plastic mixed with the attractive chemical smell she had known from both 2D and Murdoc.

She heard the king's men shouting at her as she zig-zagged at a frighteningly slow speed through schools of fish and coral reefs, demanding her surrender. Normally she would have cursed at them, but her new anatomy forced her to streamline her exertion into going back to the only place she knew she would survive. A spear hurtled right past her ear and nicked it. She kept tearing through the salty liquid, but her ear stung and she knew what that meant: it was bleeding. She frantically checked the surrounding waters and saw nothing coming her way...yet.

But then a gray form came barreling through the dark and took a snap at her. She narrowly avoided it. She kept flailing forward toward that scent. She could feel it, she could taste it in her open, gasping mouth...

The shark, the species unidentifiable in the night, snapped at her again, this time catching 2D's t-shirt it its jaw. She pulled away and the shirt ripped, choking her, pulling her in...

She pulled free, letting the dregs of the cloth fall to the depths of the ocean.

Aquamarine actually found that without that heavy cloth, she could swim much faster, even with legs. She battled forward and saw the island's silhouette in the moonlit waters come into view. She clawed at the water, knowing it would do no good and trying anyway. 2D...he could save her again...he could protect her...

The shouts continued. She heard the king's men encouraging the shark to catch her, but not completely kill her. They wanted to take her back to the king for a _proper_ execution. So that no humans could magically change her form to save her life. They were not dumb. They knew humans were responsible.

Not that Murdoc was human...

She could feel the stirring of the water around the shark and the king's men behind her. She was almost within arm's reach. She just had to swim up...

The shark caught her ankle in his teeth. They dug in and made her bleed. By the shark's twitching, she knew it was on the edge of controlling its hunger, but she knew it wouldn't kill her. Which she could use to her advantage...

Aquamarine relaxed every muscle, floating like a helpless kelp weed, swaying with the current in the jaws of the shark. This confused it. How had it killed her so easily? Aquamarine peeked through narrow eyelids. She knew that the king's men weren't fooled. But the shark would try to get away with eating her. And she knew just what to do.

It unclenched its teeth to swallow, and in the fraction of a second she was afforded, she scrambled out of jaws' reach and ascended to the beach.

She didn't hear the booming or the shouts of land creatures. She couldn't feel the vibrations in the sea. She was concerned about one thing only: returning to her mate. She knew he'd been waiting for her. She could feel it. She just knew. The shark was closing in, but the beach was so close...

Success. Her hand found purchase on a strange plastic object embedded in the sand and she pulled with all her strength and found herself finally breathing air, free, weightless air! She pulled the rest of her body onto the island and sat on her heels panting. When she regained her strength she would return to 2D.

But something was wrong...there was shouting, the shouting of dozens of humans, and the ground was vibrating, and she could smell something hot and bitter...

Something very small and very painful suddenly stabbed her in the left shoulder. She screamed. Holy Poseidon in Heaven, that was painful! She felt blood trickling down her back as the pain grew. It was stuck _inside her_. She collapsed onto her right side and screamed for Murdoc. He could fix this. He'd make the pain go away. He'd use his magic to heal her...

...Wouldn't he?

She screamed and screamed and cried and cried as the blood poured from her back. The pain wouldn't stop and she couldn't move in fear it would hurt worse. She was there for so long, begging for Murdoc, for 2D, for anyone to come and take her life, kill her so she wouldn't have to feel this pain.

And finally a pair of arms came and scooped her up gently. She knew he'd come for her. "_Kill me_," she cried to him. "_Please!_"

"Are you mental?" His voice whispered.

But it was a rough voice. It was Murdoc.

"_Please, I am in so much pain!_"

"I know, love, I know. But I promise you I'll make it better." A pair of rum-flavored lips kissed her forehead.

Murdoc took her down to the lab and placed her on her stomach on the metal table. His arms and chest were covered in her blood. He backed away and began to look for something in a drawer. Aquamarine continued to sob. The bright light above the table nearly blinded her the way it reflected off the tears in her eyes, so she hid her face underneath her hand and her dark hair.

"Keep that arms still," Murdoc advised her. "Less damage that way. Or, at least until I get the bullet out." Murdoc snapped on those flexible things-what were they called? Gloves?-over his hands and took a folded metal object to her shoulder. "This may hurt a bit. Just hold your breath and it'll be done with before you know it." Aquamarine obeyed. And he was right. Not only the metal object digging around in her wound, but also the thought of it was agonizing. Aqua screamed out and the "bullet" was drawn from her shoulder.

A dry cloth found its way over the wound and held there. Aquamarine found that the pain was dulled enough now to look at Murdoc. His mismatched eyes sported bags and there was blood on his inverted cross. His torso was bare and many adorning markings could be seen on his skin, and underneath peeked subtle muscles, rippling slightly as he breathed. He stared down at her, but it wasn't the violating look he had given her before. He seemed to be almost as vulnerable as she was now. Almost the way she was vulnerable for 2D.

For a long moment, they were silent. Aqua had stopped weeping and her tears had dried, leaving the skin around her eyes sticky and stiff. She felt shaky and near death. "Tell me, angelfish, why did you leave?" Murdoc asked, slipping his free hand into the front pocket of his jeans.

Aqua thought about this. At this point, she was no longer sure. She would never again be able to face the king in her human form and now security would be stricter than ever. And 2D and Murdoc had been the only two creatures who had ever taken care of her. Why did it matter if she could not reproduce? Clearly Poseidon had sent her here for a reason. Why else had He driven her back? Aqua gazed back into Murdoc's eyes, which had their own strange charm, and said, "I do not know."

"Promise me, _promise me_, Aqua, that you'll never try to pull a stunt like that again! You're bloody lucky to be alive."

Aqua cocked her head to one side. "You were waiting for me. You knew I would come back."

"We thought you were dead by now, actually. And by the looks of things, you very nearly are."

"But you hoped."

He didn't answer her right away. He was thinking. He was trying to figure out how to admit she was right. "You're one of us now, Aqua. You're part of the family. You have no idea what it was like, not knowing if we'd ever see you again, or if you were even alive. Bloody awful. I had to resort to this-" Murdoc pulled his hand out of his pocked and showed her his wrist. There were many horizontal marks of injury. They looked intentional.

He had done that. To himself.

"I am important to you?"

Murdoc hesitated. "The, er, financial investments I made on you were a bit, er, _extreme_ for me. I don't necessarily was to pour all that money down the drain-"

A memory was suddenly triggered in her brain. "you..._love_ me."

Murdoc's eyes widened and he stiffened where he stood. She was right again.

Murdoc peeled the now blood-soaked cloth from her injury, which was somewhat painful, and placed something very cold on it. "Keep that there. It'll stop the swelling."

"It still hurts so much..."

Murdoc walked to another corner of the room and rummaged through a cabinet. He came back with an orange bottle with a white label. She read the label. The bottle was addressed to "Stuart Pot". Murdoc took out two pills in his rough, green fingers. "Swallow these. They'll help."

"Who is Stuart Pot?"

"Nobody. Just take those pills and everything will be fine."

She took them from him with her free hand and examined them. They were large, white, oblong shapes with a line dividing them into halves. They looked too big to swallow. But she trusted Murdoc. She knew he would never harm her. She took one of the oblong shapes and swallowed hard. It didn't go down easily, but when it finally went down she took the other. She lay there and waited for the pain to disappear. But it didn't happen right away. _Land magic sure is slow_, she thought. But after Murdoc had removed the cold package from her wound and began wrapping her shoulder with a long strip of cloth with a funny smell, she began to feel the pain less. She was beginning to feel numb. She was losing the ability to think...

Murdoc used a wet cloth to wipe the dried blood from her body. He did so slowly and attractively, and with her incapacitated mind, Aquamarine felt the urge to mate with Murdoc. She wanted to feel something strong and 2D was nowhere in sight. When he took his hand away she flipped over and spread her legs apart. "Show me you love me," she said to him.

This seemed to confuse him. "I don't want to injure you further-"

"I feel no pain anymore. Please, Murdoc, mate with me. I know that is what you wanted all along."

Murdoc looked very close to consenting. But still he was insecure. "Not _here_..."

"Then take me to your bedroom and do it. I do not care, as long as you do it soon." She removed her bikini top one-handedly.

It worked. Murdoc scooped her off the table and carried her to the lift.


	14. Every Planet We Reach Is Dead

**Okay, this is really short. I think I'm only going to do one more chapter after this. Anyway, I feel super bad for doing this to 2D, but it had to be done. Hopefully, the ending I'm planning in the next chapter fits. This chapter needs no reviews because at this point it's pretty much too late to turn back and write more chapters that will remedy whatever problems there are in the story. Whatever chapters are here are here to stay.**

**Anyway, enjoy and I will see you all when I finally end it.**

2D lay there, alone again. It hadn't been so bad to sleep alone before Aqua, but afterwards is was unbearable. He felt this ache in his chest all the time, feeling as if he would die if it got any worse. But 2D was not suicidal; he wanted to continue living to wait for her in case she came back. And every day he told himself she would return, and every night he was disappointed. And alone. Again.

It didn't feel right, without that giant nest of curly hair splayed across his chest, or his legs entangled with hers. It always felt like something was missing when he woke up cold without the body heat of another person on top of him. Never mind that he no longer had a sexual partner. He had lost his only friend.

Maybe it was karma. He hadn't been nearly as respectful as he knew he should've been, and he knew he didn't deserve her. She was too beautiful and too perfect. Way too smart, too. Half the time he was sure she could read minds. Or maybe he was just too stupid, like Murdoc had said. Maybe the rowboat thing was a bad idea. He wondered if Murdoc would've done the same thing. Probably not. Maybe he really was just an idiot, like Murdoc was always saying. And now she was dead and it was all his fault.

He couldn't deal with the guilt. He got up from the cot and shuffled to the lift. There was only one thing he could do when he couldn't take it anymore. Besides, he was having another splitting headache. They were more frequent now that Aqua had left. The guilt and worry, he supposed.

He pushed the button for the lab, but when the doors opened, he noticed the surgery lamp was on. Huh, funny. There were even a few bloody rags on the metal table. He wondered what Murdoc had done to himself. Maybe he had some kind of halucination and stabbed himself in the arm or something, with those heavy drugs he was always taking. 2D flicked on the room lights and crossed to the cabinet where his painkillers were kept.

But looking in, he saw that they were missing.

He looked around. He found the bottle lying on its side on the counter, the lid off. Huh. Was Murdoc taking that too, now? He looked inside. There were five pills left. He could've sworn he'd left seven in there yesterday. Now too curious to get high, he screwed the lid on the orange bottle and crossed to the metal table. There were three very bloody, once-white rags lying there. He poked one of them. This was fresh. The blood was probably no later than a couple of hours old. He looked at all the rags. There was one, on the opposite side from him, that had strings attached to the corners...

Wait a minute. He picked it up. It was a bikini top. It was a bikini top with a bloody handprint.

Aquamarine was here.

His heart sped up and fluttered with hope. She was alive! She'd come back for him! Even without sufficiently eating or sleeping for half a week, he found the energy to sprint to the lift. He smashed the button to Murdoc's bedroom far into the control panel and willed the doors to close. He needed to hear this. And who knows, maybe he'd seen her. He just hoped he didn't have the door locked.

The lift doors opened and he rushed to Murdoc's bedroom door. He knocked a few times and waited impatiently, but no answer came. Finally he just turned the wheel on the door and pushed inside.

In the light of the rising sun, he could see Murdoc. He was sleeping in his bed.

And so was Aquamarine.


	15. Cloud Of Unknowing

**So...this is it. I hope this ending makes up for all the fluffy treatment I've given my OC in past chapters. Anyway, funny thing about this is, it's being published on the anniversary of my Gorillaz obsession. So I hope it's extra awesome. Also, I'm planning a sequel fanfic that maybe won't focus so much on Aquamarine as it will other things. Gorillaz are so interesting on their own as it is that you can't just ignore everything else. There are tons of other things to write about than a stupid, sappy love story. I just _have_ to write more. Anyway, enjoy this ending and review!**

Aquamarine thought she heard something. Was someone attacking again? It was hard to tell. She had been asleep for only a very short time, but her dreams had tormented her. Visions of violence and death, of a dying 2D, of stillborn babies. Murdoc had stabbed 2D in the chest with his bass and King Neptune himself had eaten off Aquamarine's leg. But the banging outside the room yanked her out of her tormenting nightmares into reality.

The first thing she noticed that was wrong was that she was lying in a bed by herself. The sheets were thick and she had her own pillow. The second thing she found wrong was that weak sunlight was pouring into the room. Clearly she was not in 2D's bedroom.

And the final thing she noticed that showed her that she had made a horrible mistake, was that as she looked around, she saw Murdoc lying next to her.

The banging on the door did not stir Murdoc, and he continued to snore with his mouth open and his abnormally long tongue hanging out. But it agitated her throbbing head. Aquamarine tried to prop herself up on her left arm, but collapsed when she discovered how painful it still was. She looked down at it. There were white bandages there from the night before. She suddenly had horrible flashbacks of the events before her mind went blank, of her asking Murdoc to mate and being carried up here. After that it was no longer memory-just guesswork.

But what did this mean? Merfolk never mated with more than one other, unless they were royalty. And if she was already mated-

She had betrayed 2D.

The banging on the door continued, and it all made sense to her now. 2D knew she was here, and he was going to punish her, he was going to hurt her...

The door squealed open and Aquamarine met him with wide horrified eyes, pulling the sheets to her neck and trembling. She knew she would have to harm him if he assaulted her, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

Murdoc twitched awake and stretched as if refreshed. She was confused. They had gotten only minimal sleep. "Good morning, angelf-oh, hey, twerp. What are you doing here?"

"You did it again, Murdoc."

"Did what? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Everyfing tha's mine you take away from me."

Murdoc stared him down menacingly. "Mind you, _dullard_, I made fifty percent of her body. She belongs to _me_."

Aquamarine knew they were both wrong; she was no one's property. But she knew now was not the best time to bring that up. 2D's fist clenched tightly around what Aqua saw was her bikini top. "I found her. If I hadn' said nuffing she would've been dead!"

"And if _I_ hadn't found her, lying on the beach, sniveling with a bullet in her shoulder, like she was last night, she would've _really_ been dead. I saved her life twice. All you've done besides screw her a couple of times is stand there with a dumb expression on your face."

Aquamarine felt the sudden urge to kill him. He was a traitorous dictator. Now she could see that he was no better than King Neptune.

"You didn' take care of 'er the way I did! All you ever did was try to..._use_ her for your own en'ertainmen' ! She's nuffing t'you!"

"You're one to talk. The minute, the _second_ she tells you she wants kids, you drop her, like all the other harlots you screwed back in Essex. You don't really love her. You're just horny."

What came next was something Aqua would've never expected out of 2D. He darted across the room and pounced on Murdoc, narrowly missing her, and began aiming punches at his face. Only a few actually hit their mark; the rest Murdoc was able to deflect. Murdoc strained to close his hands around 2D's throat, and Aquamarine knew there was nothing she could do. There was no side she could choose; she had forfeited that right. Aqua slipped off the bed and grabbed her bikini top lying on the floor by the doorway. She closed the door and sat down, retying the strings to her top.

She cried. She could still hear them fighting. One of them might die, and if so it would probably be 2D. She cried harder. What had she done?

She weighed her options. She could leave now without them knowing while they battled to the death and get killed herself, or she could stay, living in guilt with the survivor. Neither one was any use. But at this point, living seemed slightly less humiliating than dying. And she needed to stay alive if she were to ever return to the ocean to annihilate the man who had ruined her people. _One day,_ she thought.

And she knew 2D would forgive her. She remembered when they first met, how kind and tolerant he had been, even knowing that she had killed so many people and committed so many crimes. He would know to see past this.

...Wouldn't he?

She didn't know what code of ethics humans followed. How was she supposed to know what she had done wrong? Right? Wasn't there hope that this would just be a misunderstanding and that everything would go back to the way it was?

She listened again. Now the fighting had died down, but she could hear 2D talking angrily to Murdoc, whose own voice remained calm. She could understand nothing through the heavy door. She wanted to know what was to become of her, but she knew better than to barge in now. So she sat there, amid piles of litter, staring at the grated floor beneath her. It was too dark to see what lie beyond. She tried moving her left shoulder a little. It still hurt badly, so badly it made her nauseous. Her head and her shoulder and her stomach and her mate-she wanted badly just to blink her eyes and for it all to go away. She wanted to go outside, but she knew they would be looking for her when they finished talking.

Just then, the wheel to the door turned and Murdoc stepped out, his lip split and bleeding, his left eye bruised slightly. Aqua looked up at him hopefully, but the look on his face discouraged any wishful thinking. "He is alive," she said.

"Bloody H-are you mental? Do you _really_ think I'd kill off my singer? Muck him up a bit and put him in his place, sure, but I need him." Aqua looked down, knowing that she should feel ashamed of herself. "But we need you, too, Aqua. For the same reason I need 2D."

"What did 2D say?"

"Well, er, he's not really, erm, _happy_ with you at the moment. I mean, he's not too fond of me currently, but I'd expect that-you see it's not the first ti-never mind. Anyway, all I can tell you is that maybe it's best to steer clear of him for a few days. You know, to let him get over it. Suck it up. Move on. He'll forgive you, I'm sure-"

"You are saying that, are you not? You are saying that so I will not leave again."

Silence. She was right.

"Tell me the truth, Murdoc. What did he say?"

Murdoc hesitated. He sighed deeply and finally said, "He says he doesn't love you anymore."

Aqua felt a numb shock envelop her body. She could not move. She could not speak. She was paralyzed.

"Now listen. Angelfish. He'll forgive you. If I know the twerp like I think I do, he'll be over it by tomorrow. Until then, however, I think it's best if we make other sleeping arrangements. I'd offer to let you sleep with me-" he snickered. "-But I need to keep my band together. As painful as it may be for you, music is the higher cause here. That's why we're here! And I know it's a new concept for you, Aqua, but the thing that you'll learn quickly is that music is bigger than anything: love, betrayal, heartbreak-there's nothing nearly as powerful or important. It's the thing that guides us, keeps us alive, holds us together. It's the one thing that all intelligent life forms have in common. Humans and angels and demons alike-and apparently mermaids, too. You'll learn that in the human world, it has power far more vast than any politician can wield, or gun can expel. There's an old song about how everything in the world is temporary except for music. How did it go again?...er, anyway, that's why we're here. And that's why destiny chose you to keep you alive...if you believe in that sort of thing. Don't worry about Faceache, he's not really worth your time, anyway."

And she could feel her eyes water again, and her stomach churn, and her shoulder ache, and her heart shatter. Music was nothing to her. Nothing at all when her own mate had rejected her.

But maybe, somewhere deep in Murdoc's jumble of meaningless words, there was wisdom. She wanted to be strong again, and 2D had weakened her. Without a mate she was much more powerful.

That's what she would do, she thought. She'd play along with this pathetic little music thing until she came up with a plan.

She would find her strength again, she knew, but for now she needed to cry.


End file.
